I’ve been keeping amused by sorting through the old issues of Paradise Magazine that Maureen Hill gave to me. There are many articles of interest to old-timers, but the advertisements are so funky and dated that I have to show you a few of them. I’ll get around to the articles later.

These ads came from Issue 2: October 1976, Issue 5: May 1977, and Issue 6: July 1977.

In hindsight, I suppose that old cigarette ads are not so funny. I can remember when “Nine out of ten Doctors Recommend . . .” They can ‘t get away that that now. Here’s an old Peter Stuyvesant ad from Paradise:

It would have been more honest to say, “We hired this clown to dress up in a doctor suit and lie to you.”, but I don’t think they would have sold as many coffin nails. I was curious about who the dude was or if it was a fake name. Turns out he was real:

Peter Stuyvesant (circa 1600 – August 1672) served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664. He was a major figure in the early history of New York City. Stuyvesant’s accomplishment as director-general included a great expansion for the settlement of New Amsterdam (later renamed New York) beyond the southern tip of Manhattan. Among the projects built by Stuyvesant’s administration were the protective wall on Wall Street, the canal which became Broad Street, and Broadway.

Here’s one that’s a laugh. Who in the world thought this up:

Air Niugini – A Wise Old Owl? Maybe way back then.

The Avis car hire gang was around then and have managed to hang in there:

Although I don’t think anybody dresses like that anymore. (Hey, wait a minute. I DO know some guys who still dress that way!)

Ela Motors is still pumping out the iron, though I seriously doubt if the car shown in the ad is more than a rusting hulk:

South Pacific Brewery is still faithfully insuring that nobody goes to school (ably assisted by British American Tobacco).* However, with the quality of the flint bottle longnecks (SP Export Lager) that we’ve been seeing lately I think a lot of people would switch if there was anything in the same price range. Every other bottle spews about a third of its contents out as soon as you open it:

I saved the best for last. Burns Philp used to be a very big deal here. I can remember a huge warehouse store just around the corner from my office. It burned down. Burns Philp is now a shell company owned by New Zealand businessman Graeme Hart:

I wonder if its demise had anything to do with its ludicrous advertisements.

Fair is fair – it is cute in a demented sort of way.

* Okay, okay, I know it’s not fair to blame the brewers and ciggie makers for the irresponsibility and neglect of the slugs who choose to consume the products in such quantities that they can’t afford to send their kids to school. It’s like blaming the arms industry for all the people who die in wars. But, hey, we gotta blame somebody!

This will be of special interest to PNG old-timers. Maureen Hill recently gave me a big box of old PNG publications. The bulk of it is old issues of Paradise Magazine, the in-flight rag of Air Niugini.

As I started going through them, I realized what a treasure I now have. I picture the pirate running his hands through the coins in his treasure chest murmuring, “Gold . . . Gold!”

The oldest issue that I could find is this one:

Try as I may, I can’t figure out what when it was published. It appears that it is from the late 1970s, but there is no publication date to be found in its pages. I thought it might possibly be the first issue, but a little Googling turned up this page on Trevor Michie’s blog that shows the first issue cover.

Among the amusing advertisements for dead companies, there is this interesting pattern matching spread:
Click to enlarge to see if you can find the pair. I must admit that I gave up. Things like this make me nervous. Finally, I gave it to our long-suffering bookkeeper, Lois Bayyom-Nai. I’m always giving her improbable tasks. She came back in about two minutes with the match. I won’t spoil if for you by pointing out the matching pair. I will say that there are two that look the same but the face amounts are different. They are not the matching pair. They are red herrings.

It’s also interesting to note that the denominations of these stamps are all in pre-Kina currencies.

Another blast from the past is this article by Fr. Frank Mihalic, SVD. Old-timers will know his name well:

Father Mihalic authored one of the most important books in PNG history (my not-so-humble opinion, I admit). It was first published in 1971:

I can remember studying this book when we came to PNG for our training in 1981. If you have a copy of it, hang onto it, especially if it’s an early edition. It may well be worth some money someday.

As I go through the old Paradise Magazines, I’ll be posting more of this absolutely useless, but nevertheless amusing information.

This Sunday morning, I’d like to present an article that I asked Maureen Hill to write for Madang – Ples Bilong Mi. People in these parts are familiar with CWA, but I’d like for readers in other places to know something about this energetic and vital community organization.

So, settle in for an interesting read. Here’s a photo of the CWA Cottage in Madang:

This from MAUREEN HILL:

COUNTRY WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA – MADANG BRANCH

HISTORY OF ORGANISATION

The CWA, as the Country Women’s Association is better known, was assisted in its establishment by the Australian administration at the time they were dividing PNG up into provinces and appointing District Commissioners to the provinces.

CWA was an organization known in Australia for the help it gave to families who lived in the out back of Australia. The kind of help given was to provide places for women to come and stay while they waited for their babies to arrive, to come to town for other health reasons or shopping purposes. Men were also welcome.

At that time there were Australian families being sent to outstations in PNG who were going to require the same services as was given by CWA in Australia.

While seeking land to build the District Commissioners house land was also sought to establish a CWA close at hand.

The Madang CWA was opened in 1952. It was a small building at that time on a choice block of land with lots of room for expansion.

As PNG has changed so has CWA over the years.

Madang CWA still has a guest house that profits from go to support the organization’s projects.

WHAT DOES CWA DO?

CWA provides women in Madang a meeting place to find friends, learn new skills and find ways to raise money to help women and children in the community.

All CWA projects are to help women and children (families) in the Madang province.

Apart from the staff (7), who manage the guest house side of the organization all members are volunteers giving freely of their time to raise funds and run the programs.

Programs Include:

Kindergaden Long Ples (KLP):A village based kindergarten program that operates in villages in the Gogol, inland Madang and up the North Coast. Village parents organize the kindergartens while CWA provides office space, transport, training and monitoring of the teachers and supplying of materials. It has been operating since 1982.

Early Childhood Health Care Program (ECHP):
This is a program that CWA started operating in 1996 to help improve the health of children in the villages where the KLP kindergartens are established. A CWA appointed nurse (HEO) goes to the villages to give health education to parents and children. She also does health evaluations on the children. If there are health problems, she advises the parents on ways to help the child or, if necessary, she advises the parents to seek further medical help.

Village Health Volunteers (VHV):
This program works in conjunction with the Madang health Dept to train village women to become health volunteers in their respective village. This training provides training in birth attending and general health work. This course is accredited by the Madang Health Dept and when the volunteers have finished their two year course they receive a Health Dept Certificate.

Adult Tok Pisin Literacy Classes (TPL):
These classes started in 2006 are designed to teach women who have no reading or writing skills. There is a great need for this.

CWA hopes at a later stage to have teacher training workshops to train women to go to their villages and hold literacy classes there.

Children’s Ward Modilon Hospital:
CWA has been a major sponsor of the Children’s ward at Modilon hospital ever since the hospital was built. Currently CWA pays much of the maintenance for the ward and weekly supplies vegetables, eggs and milk for the children.

Village Birthing Houses:
CWA has helped fund houses in villages for mothers to give birth in privacy and traditionally.

Schooling:
Over the years CWA has helped many students with school fees and supplied much in the way of books stationary and sports equipment to various schools.

Play Group:
A play group meets on a regular basis at the cottage it is operated by willing volunteers and funded by CWA.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Membership to CWA costs K10.00 a year.

The Branch and Guest House are managed by a volunteer committee elected on an annual basis.

Most of the mentioned programs are funded by money raised by the volunteer members.

All of this is only possible by the tremendous community support given to CWA when fund raising events are held.

I recently saw a PowerPoint slide show presented by Maureen Hill. She had some very fine photos of her trek to Antarctica and South America with Val Jerram. It was a comedy of penguin and blubbery seals on an icy stage. Maureen’s sense of humor was at the boiling point.

I was, however, distracted when she displayed huge boulders that looked as if they had been nearby when Jackson Pollock suffered a conniption fit while carrying a large bucket of bright orange paint.

A sudden and unanticipated wiring alteration in my brain caused small sparks to fly out of my ears, startling the nice ladies on either side of me. The colour splashed on the boulders seemed to be suspiciously similar to the weird orange splotches so common on the flanks of our very own coconut trees! Hey, what’s going on here? Antarctica – Papua New Guinea. Hot – Cold. Rock – Tree. What’s the connection?

Having, of course, taken a picture of a coconut tree in My Garden (memory like mine? – few other choices), I arranged to have lunch with my well-informed friend Mr. Google. He cleared things up for me . . . to a point.

I don’t have Maureen’s photo, so you’ll have to use your imagination. Here’s my snap of the mysterious orange stuff on my coconut tree:

As it turns out, there is a family (actually a genus, but let’s not get picky) of lichens called Xanthoria that are remarkably orange. I’ve always been intrigued by lichens. Hey, we don’t have, let’s say, dogs and chickens plotting, “Let’s mash together and make a whole new thing!” So what’s the deal with fungi and algae?

Anyway, I couldn’t find a definitive page that said, “Yeah, the coconut bilas in Madang is the same as the Pollock paintings in Antarctica”, but my suspicion is aroused that such is the case.

Curiosity now temporarily satiated, I’m musing over the serendipitous fact that if we were invaded by a herd of ravenous reindeer, we would be able to point them to our coconut trees for a good feed.

I also found out that the light green stuff that looks like dried cabbage is yet another kind of lichen. Enough, already

The Rotary Club of Madang was recently the recipient of many gifts from far away places. The gifts were transported to Madang on the USS Peleliu, an American Amphibious Assault Ship.

This from Val Jerram, a member of the Rotary Club of Madang:

A ten day visit in port from the USS Peleliu – ‘Project Handclasp – Peleliu Pacific Partnership 2007’ has caused a flurry of activity in the Madang province. Two landing craft have come into port everyday as well as numerous helicopter flights to provide goods and services, in town, way out in remote villages and on board ship.

The Rotary storage area was bulging at the seams after taking delivery of over 20 pallets of goods. This required numerous trucks, fork lifts and a team of strong men to unload and place in the limited storage space available. Rotary members were on hand to provide refreshments to all who worked on the transfer and storage of the goods.

The US Consular Officer, Leslie Livingood and Captain Ed Rhoades of the USS Peleliu, Rotary members and representatives of number of sections of the community who regularly benefit from Rotary distribution of goods and assistance were in attendance at the official hand over ceremony held under the frangipanni trees.

A treadle sewing machine was presented at the ceremony to a representative of the Save the Children in PNG to train some youth in the art of sewing.

The Creative Self Help Centre, which is strongly supported by Rotary, are the distribution centre in Madang Province for treated mosquito nets. Thirty-five bales of treated mosquito nets were also added to the supply of goods for distribution.

Over the next few months these goods will be repacked into smaller boxes for distribution.

Here are crew members and contractors with a truck loaded with some of the goods waiting to be transported to the distribution centre.

This photo shows Captain Rhoades, Leslie Livingood, Maureen Hill (Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Madang), and Hal Daniel (President of the Rotary Club of Madang).

Here is Maureen Hill and a teacher from the Holy Cross Merio Primary School opening on of the boxes of books donated to the school.

The final result is: EXCITED CHILDREN!

The ripple effect of the generosity of many caring people in other places far away will continue to into many other Madang communities.